Cardelus replaces Fenati at the Marinelli Snipers Team

The team also announced that Makar Yurchenko will ride as Arbolino's teammate in 2019

20-year-old Xavier Cardelus will step in to ride the Kalex Moto2™ machine of the Marinelli Snipers team, starting from the next Grand Prix at MotorLand Aragon. Cardelus, an FIM CEV Repsol Moto2™ European Championship rider, is not a new face in the World Championship. The rider from Andorra has already participated in seven races this season, as wild a card, as training for the final World Championship jump that he will face in 2019.

The Spanish rider will be the replacement for Romano Fenati.

The Marinelli Snipers team have also announced that Makar Yurchenko will be Tony Arbolino's teammate in the Moto3™ class in 2019. The rider from Kazakhstan officially becomes part of the 'Snipers family' that, after the Moto2™ experience, will return next season to running two Honda bikes in Moto3™. Makar already began the World Championship this year and raced the first seven races of the Championship, getting very respectable results for a rookie. In his last race, at Barcelona, he got his best result (P12, seven tenths from the top ten). A good debut that has convinced the team to give him a new opportunity.

Makar Yurchenko: "I am really excited to be part of the Marinelli Snipers team for the 2019. I think this is a great opportunity for me and also for the team. I will be my first year with Honda, but I am looking forward to start the adaptation to the bike with the first test. I am convinced that, together, we can reach goos results".

Stefano Bedon (team manager): "Makar is a young university student, intelligent and... fast. This year, in tests and races, he demonstrated to have a good potential and, next year, with our Honda, he could be fastest, not only because Honda is easiest to ride compared to KTM, but also because it is more "comfortable" for a rider who is 179cm tall. Another unique feature of Makar is his Kazakhstan provenience, a growth nation, that is approaching to the Motogp World Championship thanks to the realization of the new Sokol race track, close to Almaty, second important city of the country. The agreement with Makar is a two years contract. It couldn't be different: the first year to discover the secrets of the class, the second one for podiums..."